CATEGORIES SPECIAL EDUCATION

GLDUENAS
SPECIAL EDUCATION DEFINED
Special education can be defined from many perspectives:
- special education as intervention
a. Remedial intervention
b. Compensatory intervention
-special education as instruction
who, what, how ,where


SPECIAL EDUCATION
A special education is appropriate only when pupils need are
such that he or she cannot be accommodated in a general
education program.
Is a customized instructional program designed to met the
unique needs of an individual learner. It may necessitate the
use of specialized materials, equipment, services, and/or
teaching strategies
Special education is not limited to a specific location.
Special education is truly beneficial and meet the unique needs
of who provide related services
CATEGORIES AND LABELS
A category is nothing more than a label assigned to
individuals who share common characteristics and features.
PL 105-17 , Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of
1997 identifies the following thirteen categories of disability:
Autism means a developmental disability significantly
affecting verbal and non verbal communication and
social interaction , generally evident before the age of
3, that adversely affects a childs educational
performance. Other characteristics often associated
with autism are engagement in repetitive activities
and stereotyped movements resistance to
environmental change or change in daily routines and
unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term
does not apply if a childs educational performance is
adversely affected primarily because the child has an
emotional disturbance.
Deaf and blindness means concomitant hearing and
visual impairments, the combination of which causes
such severe communication and other
developmental and educational needs that they
cannot be accommodated in special education
programs solely for children with deafness or
children with blindness.
Deafness means a hearing impairment that is severe
that the child is impaired in processing linguistic
information through hearing, with or without
amplification, that adversely affects a childs
educational performance.

Emotional disturbance :
(i) The terms means a condition exhibiting one or more of the
following characteristics over a long period of time and to mark
degree that adversely affects a childs performance:
(A) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual,
sensory, or health factors
(B) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal
relationships with peers and teachers.
(C) Inappropriate types of behaviors or feelings under normal
circumstances.
(D) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.
(E) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated
with personal or school problems
(ii) The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to
children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that
they have an emotional disturbance.

Hearing impairment means an impairment in hearing,
whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a
childs educational performance but that is not included
under the definition of deafness.
Mental Retardation means significantly subaverage general
intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in
adaptive behavior and manifested during the
developmental period, that adversely affects a childs
educational performance
Multiple disabilities means concomitant impairments (
such as mental retardation blindness, mental retardation-
orthopedic impairments, etc.), the combination of which
causes severe educational needs that they cannot be
accommodated in special education programs solely for
one of the impairments. The term does not include deaf-
blindness
Orthopedic impairment means a severe
orthopedic impairment that adversely affects
a childs educational performance. The term
includes impairment cause by congenital
anomaly ( e.g. clubfoot, absence of some
member, etc.) impairment caused by disease
(e.g. poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis, etc)
and impairment from other causes ( e.g.
cerebral palsy, amputations and fractures or
burns that cause contractures).
Other health impairments means having limited
strength, vitality or alertness to environmental
stimuli, that results in limited alertness with
respect to educational environment, that
(i) Is due to chronic or acute health problem such
as asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition,
hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis,
rheumatic fever, and sickle cell anemia and;
(ii) Adversely affects childs educational
performance
Specific learning disability is defined as follows:
(i) General. The term means a disorder in one or
more of the basic psychological process
involved in understanding or in using language,
spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an
imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read,
write, spell, or to do disabilities, brain injury,
minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia and
developmental aphasia.
(ii) The term does not include learning problems
that are primarily the result of visual, hearing,
or motor disabilities, of mental retardation , or
emotional disturbances, or of environmental,
cultural or economic disadvantage
Speech or language impairment means a
communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired
articulation, a language impairment, or a voice
impairment, that adversely affects a childs educational
performance.
Traumatic brain injury means an acquired injury to the
brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in
total or functional disability or psychological impairment,
or both, that adversely affects a childs educational
performance. The terms applies to open or closed head
injuries in impairments in one or more areas, such as
cognition, language, memory, attention, reasoning,
abstract thinking, judgment, problem-solving, sensory-
perceptual and motor abilities ; psychosocial behavior,
physical function, information processing and speech.
The term does not apply to brain injuries that are
congenital or degenerative or to brain injuries induced by
birth trauma.
Visual impairment including blindness
means an impairment in vision that, even
with correction, adversely affects a childs
educational performance. The term includes
both partial sight and blindness
TERMINOLOGY
Exceptional children is used by both general and
special education teachers to refer to individuals who
differ from societal or community standard of
normalcy. These differences may be due to significant
physical, sensory , cognitive or behavioral
characteristics.
Thus, most of these children may require educational
programs customized to their unique.
Disability refers to an inability or a reduced capacity to
perform a task in a specific way. A disability is a
limitation imposed on an individual by a loss or
reduction of functioning, such as the paralysis of leg
muscles, the absence of an arm, or the loss of sight. It
can also refer to problems in learning.
Handicap refers to the impact or consequence of
disability, not the condition itself. It is the problems or
difficulties that a person with a disability encounter as he
or she attempts to function and interact with the
environment.
Developmentally Delayed and at-Risk. These labels are
incorporated in federal legislation (PL 99-457 and PL
105-17) and are used when referring to infants and
preschoolers with problems in development , learning, or
other areas of functioning.
Developmental delay is when a childs performance on a
standardized test is at least 25 percent below the mean
of childrenwith similar chronological age in one or more
developmental areas such as motor, language, or
cognitive ability. ( But in other state, the determination is
made when a preschooler s score on an assessment
instrument is two or more standard deviations below the
mean for youngster of the same chronological age.
SUGGESTION FOR COMMUNICATING
ABOUT INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES
1. Do not focus on the disability
2. Do not portray successful people with disabilities as
superhuman
3. Do not sensationalize a disability
4. Do not use generic labels
5. Put people first
6. Emphasize abilities
7. Avoid Euphemism
8.Do not imply disease
9. Show people with disabilities as active
THE PROS AND CONS OF LABELING
INDIVIDUALS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Advantages Disadvantages
1.Labels serve as a means for funding
and administering education programs
1. Labels can be stigmatizing and may
lead to stereotyping.
2. Teacher certification programs and
credentialing process are frequently
developed around specific disability
categories (e.g. mental retardation,
hearing impairment)
2. Labeling has the potential of focusing
attention on limitations and what a
person cannot do instead of on the
individuals capabilities and strengths.
3.Labels allow professionals to
communicate efficiently in a meaningful
fashion.
3. Labels can sometimes be used as an
excuse or reason for delivering
ineffective instruction
4. Research efforts frequently focus on
specific diagnostic categories
4. Labels can contribute to a diminished
self-concept, lower expectations, poor
self esteem.
5. Labels establish an individuals
eligibility for services
5. Labels are typically inadequate for
instructional purposes; they do not
accurately reflect the educational or
therapeutic needs of the individual
student
6. Treatment, instruction, and support
services are differentially provided on the
basis of a label
6.Labeling can lead to reduced
opportunities for normalized experiences
in school and community life
7. Labels heighten the visibility of the
unique needs of persons with disabilities
7. A label can give the false impression of
the permanence of a disability; some
labels evaporate upon leaving the school
environment
8. Labels serve as a basis for counting the
number of individuals with disabilities and
thus assist governments, schools,
agencies, and other organizations planning
for the delivery of needed services
9. Advocacy and special interest groups,
such as the Autism Society of America or
the National Federation for the Blind,
typically have an interest in assisting
particular groups of citizens